Chicken Tamales with Salsa Verde

Tamales Verdes de Pollo

In the Mexican culture, tamales mean bringing family and friends together, carrying on tradition and enjoying a hearty meal at home. Typically served around the holidays, tamales (or “tamal” – singular) are pudgy parcels of delight — a hot filling of chicken, beef, pork or even fruit surrounded by a spongy masa or dough made of corn flour — all wrapped in a corn husk or banana leaf depending on the region.

Cook Your Own Homemade Tamales

But you don’t have to wait for the holidays or go to a restaurant to enjoy the authentic taste of the ultimate Mexican comfort food. Here we show you step-by-step how to make homemade tamales in your own kitchen.

What to Expect from This Recipe

This tamales recipe brings together shredded chicken and sautéed onions in a flavorful green sauce made with tangy tomatillos and mildly spicy Poblano chili, surrounded by corn flour dough, and wrapped in a corn husk for steaming. Tamales are a labor of love, and even though the process involves many steps, our recipe takes you through each one in detail, with photos so you can be sure you’re doing all the right things!

How the Recipe Is Structured

This tamales recipe is broken down into the following sections:

• Soaking the Corn Husks
• Preparing the Chicken and Broth
• Making the Salsa
• Preparing the Filling
• Making the Masa Dough
• Assembling Your Tamales
• Steaming
• And finally, serving and eating!

You’ll be glad you completed all the previous steps to get to these fabulous tamales!

Meet the Chef

My name is Eugenia Cárdenas and I’ve had a love of Mexican cooking since I was 10 years old. My mother would provide the cook in our house with the tastiest recipes that, for generations, had become part of our family tradition. As the chef was cooking, she would allow me to help her in the kitchen. That’s how I knew at a young age that cooking would become an important part of my life.

Eugenia Cardenas is originally from Mexico City and now lives in San Miguel de Allende, in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico.

Learn How to Make Tamales Verdes

Ingredients

For the Tamales

• 1 package of corn husks
• 1 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ½ cup vegetable broth
• 2 cups of corn flour (also called masa harina or Maseca brand)
• 2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt

For the Tamale Filling

• 1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
• 1 lb. tomatillos
• 2 cups water
• 1 white onion
• 1 Poblano chili
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Soak the Corn Husks

First you’ll soak the corn husks so they soften up and will be easier to fold. Place the corn husks in a large pot of hot water.

Press the husks into the water to ensure they’re completely covered.

Soak the husks for 20 minutes, drain and set aside to dry.

Prepare the Chicken and Broth

Slice the Veggies

Thinly slice the white onion.

Stack a few slices at a time, cut slices into quarters and set aside.

Cut the garlic in slices.

Then dice and set aside.

Heat the Chicken and Veggies

Cut the chicken breast into 1-inch chunks.

Heat a pot over medium-high heat and pour in the olive oil.

Add the onions.

Cook the onions over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Add salt and stir.

Add the garlic and cook until onions are soft.

Next, add the chicken to the onions and garlic.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt.

Stir and cook over medium heat until the chicken has browned.

Make the Broth

Pour in the water to cover the chicken and vegetables completely. Bring to a boil and lower the heat.

Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. The broth will darken as the chicken cooks. You’ll use the broth for the masa in the steps below.

When the chicken is ready, your broth will look like this.

Shred the Chicken

Drain the chicken and vegetables and reserve the chicken broth.

Separate the chicken and the vegetables into different plates.

Finely shred the chicken using your hands.

Your shredded chicken is ready! Set aside the chicken and onions for the filling.

Make the Salsa

Cut the Vegetables

Slice the tomatillos in half.

Then in quarters, and reserve.

Slice the Poblano chili lengthwise. Tip: Remember not to touch your eyes or face when working with chilis.

Remove the veins and seeds.

Your deveined chili should look nice and clean.

Slice the chili into 1” pieces.

Cook the Vegetables

Place the tomatillo quarters and the Poblano chili slices into a pot of water.

Add salt.

Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables change color.

Once cooked, drain the veggies.

Press the veggies into the strainer to be sure you remove all the broth. Reserve the broth to use in the Make the Masa step below.

Blend the Salsa

Pour the drained vegetables into your blender.

Blend until smooth.

Your salsa is now ready!

Prepare the Filling

Pour the shredded chicken into a large bowl.

Now add the cooked onions.

Next, pour the salsa over the chicken and onion mixture.

Stir to combine the filling.

Your filling is now ready. Looks tasty!

Make the Masa Dough

Blend Shortening and Dry Ingredients

Place your room-temperature vegetable shortening in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Alternatively you could use a hand mixer or beat by hand but the stand mixer makes it so easy.

Beat until light and fluffy.

The texture of your shortening once beaten should look nice and smooth.

Pour the baking powder into the bowl with the shortening.

Add the corn flour.

Sprinkle in 1 tablespoon of salt.

Mix until combined.

Mix In the Liquids

Pour in about ½ cup of the reserved vegetable broth from the Make the Salsa step above and mix until combined. Note that the liquid measurements are just a guide. Keep an eye on the dough to ensure it’s not too wet or crumbly.

Pour in ½ cup of the chicken broth little by little, being careful not to add too much liquid.

Mix until combined. The dough should be spongy, not wet. Follow the next step to test the texture of your masa. If you’ve added too much liquid, you can balance out the dough with more corn flour.

Test the Masa

Fill a glass with warm water and take a small chunk of the masa from the mixing bowl.

Drop the masa into the glass of water. If it floats, your masa is perfect! If not, beat in a little more shortening for about a minute and then test again.

Assemble Your Tamales

Trim the Corn Husks

Take your corn husks and cut straight across the top or bottom edge.

When you unfold the husk, the top edge should be wide and straight, and the bottom edge longer.

Fill the Husks

Lay a corn husk flat in your hand with the straight, wide edge facing toward you. With the other hand, scoop about 2 to 3 tablespoons of masa into the husk.

Spread the masa evenly about ⅔ across the straight edge of the husk and halfway down. You’ll need the empty space to fold the tamales over.

Scoop about a tablespoon of chicken filling and place on top of the masa in the husk.

Spread the chicken filling evenly in the center of the masa.

Fold the Tamale

Fold over one half of the corn husk toward the center to cover the filling.

Then fold over the other half. Almost finished folding!

Fold the bottom of the corn husk under your tamale.

You now have a perfectly folded tamale!

Place your folded tamale in a plate and repeat with the remaining corn husks.

Steam Your Tamales

Add a few cups of water to a steamer pot and heat until the water is hot.

Tip: Once the water is hot, drop a few coins in. If you hear the coins rattling as you heat your tamales, that means there’s enough water in the pot. Once the coins stop rattling, it’s time to add more water to the pot.

You’re now ready to place the steamer rack in the pot and heat your tamales. Alternatively you could use a stockpot with a steamer basket as long as you can get a good seal when you cover your pot.

Place your tamales into the steamer upright with the open part of the husk at the top, being careful not to crush them.

Once you’ve added all of your tamales to the steamer, cover and steam over medium heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until cooked. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Serve and Eat Your Tamales!

Your tamales are now ready to eat! Serve with a side of white rice or beans, or eat them as they are. They’re a perfect main dish accompanied by a nice, warm atole drink. Enjoy!

More Authentic Mexican Recipes from the Blog

• Vegan Strawberry Tamales
• Mole Poblano
• Chiles en Nogada
• Enchiladas Potosinas